[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 25 (Thursday, March 2, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E269]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 A BILL TO RATIFY A CONVEYANCE OF THE JICARILLA APACHE RESERVATION TO 
                 RIO ARRIBA COUNTY, STATE OF NEW MEXICO

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. TOM UDALL

                             of new mexico

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 2, 2006

  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce a bill to 
ratify a conveyance of a portion of the Jicarilla Apache Reservation to 
the county of Rio Arriba, New Mexico. This legislation will bring 
resolution to a long-standing dispute between the Jicarilla Apache 
Nation and Rio Arriba County.
  The dispute, which has been ongoing for nearly two decades, is over 
the ownership of a road on a parcel of land formerly referred to as 
Theis Ranch. The Jicarilla Nation purchased Theis Ranch in 1985 and, in 
March 1988, the Nation subsequently conveyed a trust deed for Theis 
Ranch to the United States. The Theis Ranch property then, by 
proclamation of the Secretary of the Interior, became part of the 
Jicarilla Reservation in September 1988.
  A lawsuit was filed in October of 1987 and the District Court was 
asked to determine the ownership status of the disputed road. In the 
original lawsuit, Rio Arriba County sought to establish that the county 
acquired the disputed road by prescription and, therefore, the county 
was the road's rightful owner. However, the Jicarilla Nation contended 
that the Nation owned the road because the road was, and continues to 
be, within the boundaries of the expanded 1988 Jicarilla Reservation. 
On December 10, 2001, the District Court found in favor of the 
Jicarilla and determined that the disputed road traversed the Jicarilla 
Reservation in several locations. Rio Arriba County appealed the 
December 2001 District Court decision and the appeal is currently 
pending before the Court of Appeals of the State of New Mexico. In a 
separate yet relevant matter, Rio Arriba County appealed a February 
2003 decision by the Southwest Bureau of the United States Department 
of the Interior to acquire a tract of land referred to as the Boyd 
Ranch in trust for the Jicarilla Nation. Rio Arriba's appeal of this 
determination is currently pending before the Interior Board of Indian 
Appeals.
  In an effort to settle the road dispute, the Jicarilla Nation and Rio 
Arriba County entered into mediation. The parties successfully reached 
a settlement that was subsequently executed by both the Jicarilla 
Nation, on May 3, 2003, and Rio Arriba County, on May 15, 2003. 
Representatives of the Secretary of the Interior approved the 
settlement on June 18, 2003. The settlement agreement, which would be 
implemented by this legislation, provided that the Jicarilla Nation 
would transfer, more or less, 70.5 acres of land located with the 
expanded 1988 Jicarilla reservation to Rio Arriba County. In exchange 
for the Jicarilla Nation's land conveyance, Rio Arriba County agreed to 
permanently abandon any and all claims to the disputed road. The 
settlement also provides that the terms of the agreement do not take 
effect until all parties complete their respective promises in the 
agreement and the United States, pursuant to federal law, approves of 
the conveyance of this particular Jicarilla trust land to Rio Arriba 
County.

  Both parties and the Secretary of the Interior have fully preformed 
the terms agreed to within the settlement agreement. All that stands 
between the parties to this dispute and long overdo resolution is 
Congressional approval. Consequently, the legislation will adjust the 
Jicarilla Reservation border in order to account for the transfer. At 
the same time, this legislation upholds Congress' trust responsibility 
to the Jicarilla Nation by placing restrictive covenants on the trust 
land transferred to the County. In other words, this legislation 
recognizes that the transferred land is immediately adjacent to the 
remainder of the Jicarilla Nation. As a result of the transferred 
land's proximity to the reservation, certain uses of the transferred 
land would have a detrimental effect on the remaining reservation. 
Therefore, this legislation allows the County to use the land only for 
``governmental purposes'' and specifically prohibits the County from 
using the land for prisons, jails, or other incarcerated persons, and 
other purposes.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to expedite passage of this very 
important legislation. Both the Nation and the County have waited years 
for this agreement to be implemented. Congress must now do their part 
to provide long overdo resolution.

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